Tubes Flat rear tire, despite having all the right stuff.

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5:15 AM
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
494
Location
Erie, PA.
I rode my new e-bike out to a big picnic about 13 miles from home. In order to have room for a whole bunch of potato salad fron the deli(about 5 pounds) I was taking, I removed the spare tube I usually carry from the trunk bag. Needless to say, on the way home I had a flat in the rear tire about 5 miles from home. The temp was 84 drgrees and the humidity was in the 90s. I thought this old man was going to collapse and die pushing the heavy e-bike home.

My mistake was obvious, no tube and no patch kit, because I usually had the tube. This was my first flat since I had begun using a high quality Armadillo kevlar cord tire, a thorn-pruf inner liner, and a slimmed tube several years ago. I got cocky and assumed I was well protected from flat tires. When I got home I found a 5/8 inch long staple, like contractors use to attach house wrap. Both points had penetrated the tire, inner liner and tube, and the slime failed to seal the tiny holes.

The moral of the story is, never think you are bullet proof and neglect to carry the minimum spares and tools to make simple repairs on the road. I need to review my tools+spares kit and try to think ahead, for a change. That is my word to the wise.
 
This may seem silly , but let me tell you what I do. I find it a bit much to carry an extra tube with me, I travel light ( And alot of times I just do not have an extra tube! ) , so I carry a tube of silicon sealant. It does work quite well to repair common punctures. It dries in about 15 minutes in the sun (Florida). My intent is a temporary fix just to get home , but dam - I rode a fixed tube for a year !
Maybe someday I will not be so frugal .........
 
Sounds like you couldn't pump up the tire. If a Slime'd setup loses air, you need to pump it up and keep it spinning repeat as needed til it seals.

Also, you can't really patch a tube that has Slime in it. The patch will almost always lose it's glue. Due to complete deflation when you're trying to patch, you'll reopen old holes, too.

A compact hand pump is one tool on my MaB that I will never leave home. I've been using the manual Slime method for over 20 years and have had tubes last 5 years or more!
 
What kind of tire liners are you using? You hit a staple like that in the right way seems no amount of protection will help. Confused about the thorn proof tire liner description though. If I have a flat far from home its time to use the cell and call for the wife and her pickup IF shes not at work.
 
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